


Binding Ties & Pulling Threads

by LuluSoBlue



Series: The Long Way Home [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Multiverse, TMNT 2012 AU, behold my next magic trick, finding typos AFTER i posted this, now get ready for the The Butterfly's Dead But We Won't Know How Bad It Was Until Later Scenario, probably update the relationships and the like as it goes, you've heard of the Butterfly Effect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 02:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11842119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuluSoBlue/pseuds/LuluSoBlue
Summary: A Season 2 AU where more characters get involved with the turtles and things gradually diverge more and more from the original 2012 timeline. April is coping with the events of Showdown and the second loss of her father with the help of unlikely friendships, as the turtles also try to deal with broken friendship. Meanwhile, the Foot Clan faces unrest among its followers as an adversary creeps into the periphery.





	Binding Ties & Pulling Threads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [guide_to_the_galaxy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guide_to_the_galaxy/gifts), [Werepirechick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/gifts).



> Thanks to my friends motivating me (i.e. peer pressuring me =P) to write about it, I finally decided to give my AU some actual manifestation. Unfortunately I haven't been enjoying the show in recent seasons as much as I had in the past, but my love for this incarnation is still pretty strong for me to build a massive AU for.
> 
> Pray for me.
> 
> I'm dedicating this first chapter to my buddies for supporting me and helping me kick my ass into gear. You guys rule.

It’s been hard work. It’s been the giant Skivish buckets of blood-sweat-and-tears kind of hard work. Moving from timeline to timeline, dimension to dimension, it’s felt like he’s done nothing else in his life but all of the hard, hard work he’s dedicated himself to.

Yet even when it keeps getting harder and harder, and he worries that his brothers and father and friends are fading from his memory, and everything just becomes so jumbled and blurry it’s tricky to know what happened when and where and how… it’ll be hard work that’s worth it in the end. Even if he can’t help all of them, he could say he damn well tried.

And it was amazing to hit pause on the hard work and grab a slice of old-fashioned NYC pizza and chill on a rooftop. It was a rare breather Michelangelo would allow himself. ‘All work and no play’, right?

He couldn’t tell which timeline he was in right now. If New York wasn’t a wasteland or a sci-fi geek’s dream, there wasn’t anything to tip off what kind of universe he was in. Had he been to this version of events before? Was it a new one that had just branched off? There was no way of knowing unless he got himself in too deep. Michelangelo had grown out of that habit, anyway. Inserting himself into things had… bad outcomes, most times. The whole space-time continuum shebang still had cracks from the time of his past self, his _first_ self, at the root of things.

Michelangelo had seen first-hand just how much chaos could slip through those cracks.

That didn’t matter much, though. Not lately, anyway. Things had been quiet, jumping between times and spaces the way he had been. The bad futures, the undesirables, were occurring less than the futures he witnessed that turned out not-so-bad at the least. And reality was intact for the most part in all of them. The last big threat of distortion happened ages ago-

A piercing shriek cut through the night air. Michelangelo looked to the source and found a familiar sight. Kirby-Bat flying off into the night, a stubby arm pressed against his face as he flapped away, aimless and lost.

_"Don’t! Don’t touch me!"_

And he heard some familiar words. He leaned over the edge of the roof to watch the shutter doors of a warehouse below. Wow, was it really this warehouse? Then a human girl ran out, stumbling, hair fiery and bright against the dim grey of the street. Michelangelo listened as well as he could and caught the tell-tale hitch in her breath. That was the sound that came forth when she would try to hide her sobs.

April had taken many faces for Michelangelo to see in his jumps. Skin the darkest he ever had seen on a human with eyes that burned hot and green with fire. Face pale as the moon with clusters of freckles all over her body that would turn bright red in the summer. Hair wild and unruly or hair straight and smooth. Tall and short, chubby and thin, shy with muscles bigger than any of theirs and confident with stretchmarks and body fat that jiggled when she laughed. In one lifetime she was never a mutant, but their sensei’s long lost child, a baby found alone and rehomed and renamed who had found the other remaining Hamatos by complete freak chance. In another, she was bright pink with tentacles for arms and sharp teeth and alien eyes, and had tubes of various shapes and sizes and purposes plugged into her body, and she was begging for help in a language of shrieks and gargles and guttural sounds.

This April, with red hair and light freckles and a yellow T-shirt with the number 5 printed on the front, was the first April in the longest time he had recognised right away.

The spitting image of his April skidded to a stop at the end of the alley. A car horn blared as its vehicle drove by. Being forced to stop made her hesitate. She looked back at the warehouse, and even from all the way up here in the dark Michelangelo could see the tears roll from her eyes to her wobbling lip.

The second-guessing was brief. April whipped around just as quick and bolted.

Michelangelo sighed as she disappeared around the corner. This day had sucked _hard_ for them, and _now_ he could recall perfectly. When he had still thought of himself as Mikey and he had spent weeks expecting April to walk in any day and tell them she was back for good. It didn’t happen so soon, of course. And, in hindsight, who knows if it would have been ‘for good’. Several Aprils didn’t stay for good, and several more never even came back.

Funny, this was the first time in all his repeats of their past that Michelangelo had witnessed _this_ moment play out again. Seeing it from the other side of those shutter doors dug up old guilts and heartaches. There was a Mikey, along with a Leo and a Donnie and a Raph, still inside that warehouse feeling sorry and feeling like failures. If they had a Splinter who was the same as his had been, these brothers would go home to words that weren’t cruel and humiliating but not comforting or reassuring either. Would their Donnie be able to figure out the retromutagen? Would April come back? What had been set in motion here and what-

He shook his head and tried to focus on the pizza. Get back to the chill he could only let himself experience for the briefest of times. This train of thought had led him to make so many wrong and stupid decisions based on spur-of-the-moment emotions. Led to so many pains and hurts and…

Distance was what Michelangelo had to utilise, often _force_ himself to utilise. He might come back here again. He might not. As similar and familiar as this jump was, he couldn’t let himself stay here when this branch didn’t need any outside help, not when several other branches so desperately did and would as soon as he jumped out of this one. There wasn’t a gaping hole in New York or a copy of a friend being tugged at by a warp in reality. Things would just have to play out, even if they were bad things. Renet would have his shell otherwise (they were pushing things like this as they were).

So Michelangelo focused on how _this_ April's right eye was green instead of blue - a shade of green that made him think of staring down his first Kraang - and made himself think of that one difference from _his_ April as though she were really the long lost Miwa or the mutant who had desperately begged for an end.

* * *

She tripped through the front door and slammed it shut behind her. Just in case the boys had followed her, and she doubly wanted them to know they weren't wanted right now. Would she want to see them again at all? She quickly locked and bolted the door.

April leaned against the wall and tried to breathe through a scratchy throat and aching lungs. Her limbs hurt so much and she was sure they would just fall off right there. Her eyes stung and were overflowing and she couldn't see but she could taste the salt that ran into her mouth.

She was left all alone again. She slid down to the floor and hugged herself tight, nails digging into her arms. This time, there wasn't the shock of discovering the existence of aliens or mutants or the hope of finding him in one piece again. There were no newfound friends to reassure her or keep up her spirits about a search and rescue plan.

There was nothing to keep her from crying and wailing and sobbing on the floor for a solid hour. The sound and buzz of her T-phone is somewhere in the background. There was a knock on the door from what she guessed was a neighbour, but all she would remember doing was screaming at the door to go away.

When she was finally empty and numb and had exhausted herself, she picked herself up and climbed up the stairs and into the apartment.

The scent of burning came from the kitchen. April walked in to find her dad's stew bubbling and boiling over from where it had been left to simmer too long. She turned off the heat and lifted the lid. Dried out meat, sauce burnt into the sides of the pot, vegetables turned to mush. April put the lid back and left the mess for the morning. She had lost her appetite ages ago anyway.

A small pile of documentary DVDs were sitting on top of the coffee table. It had been her dad's turn for movie night again. Watching animals surviving in the arctic or go about their day in the rainforests was one of few things her father could watch and keep calm about. He wasn't comfortable watching sci-fi anymore. Especially future and alien stuff. She put the DVDs back on the shelf.

It was already late. 2:13am on her phone to be exact. She didn't feel sleepy, but just... tired. Tired of everything. Still, sleep was probably best if there was any chance she would be bothered with school the next day.

There was another beep from her pocket as she walked into her room. She ignored the message notifications and missed calls and turned off her T-Phone. Then she tossed it on her desk and got ready for bed.

Being tired wasn't enough for the next hour, though. She lay in bed, wide awake, watching the window for signs of life. Who knew who would be after her now? Foot Ninja back to bargain her for further alliance with the Kraang. Kraangbots blasting the doors open to take her back for whatever they wanted her for. A giant mutant bat smashing through the glass to grab her and haul her back up to high, high ground. Turtles.

April managed to find sleep half an hour after she got up to hide her T-Phone in the back of her drawer.

* * *

[Donnie-boy]  
[02:33]  
> April please pick up the phone  
> I'll explain everything that happened  
> We were fighting the kraang and they had this new goon  
> and we tried to fight it but things got out of hand  
> and the mutagen fell out of the ship  
[02:42]  
> and I could explain this better if you just PLEASE answer, April  
> Please

[Raphinator]  
[03:15]  
> sorry

[Donnie-boy]  
[03:24]  
> I'll find a way to fix this  
> I swear I'll find a way to cure your father if it's the last thing I do  
> April?  
> April please don't stay mad  
> I'm sorry  
> WE'RE sorry

[Captain Leo]  
[04:22]  
> We take full responsibility for what happened to your father, April.  
We got too careless and stupid after we stopped the invasion, and Kirby was hurt because of it.  
I'm supposed to be the leader. I'm supposed to keep things like this from happening. We asked you to help us and we failed to keep you safe.  
I'm sorry, April. We'll get better and we'll find a way to bring Kirby back home again, I promise.  
[04:53]  
> And take all the time you need away from us. If you'd rather not train with us or Master Splinter anymore, we understand.

[Donnie-boy]  
[05:27]  
> I have a plan  
> We're going to start hunting down the rest of those canisters tomorrow  
> Once I have something to sample I can get to work  
> some kind of "retro-mutagen" to reverse the effects  
> I have a decent blood sample from when I had to protect you from Kirby  
> I shouldn't have said that  
[05:46]  
> I'll find some mutagen tomorrow if it kills me and I'll start working on a cure  
> I promise April

* * *

 _She's everywhere. She's every_ one.

_She's laid flat and restrained against flat cold metal._

_She's running from an alien pod swooping towards her._

_She feels the squeeze around her head from the outside and needles of nothing poking on the inside._

_She feels the squeeze of her hands as she holds her head and tries to calm the terror running rampant._

_She can't move. She's trapped._

_She's running and fleeing and screaming and crying and yelling and panicking and praying and hiding and doing everything she can to escape the invasion._

_But she can't move. She's trapped._

_Her head hurts. Thinking hurts. The machine hurts. All of this pushing and prodding and poking at her brain hurts. Being forced from body to body and feeling their feelings and thinking their thoughts hurts._

_There's this other sensation of reaching. It's slimy and scratchy and it crawls in her brain, in her spine, under her skin. It's sharp teeth grinding and boneless bodies moving and mantra being chanted in an alien language from everywhere. She can't make sense alien noises but can and hears feels horrifying inspiring and it hurts motivates scares hope want to go home MAKE home OURS now for KRAANG now_

 

April woke up in a cold sweat. She didn't move. She couldn't. She was frozen and silent while her mind buzzed with memories of that awful day. Her dad hadn't - didn't know that she had been waking up like this on and off for weeks. Neither did the - nobody knew.

She didn't sleep for the rest of the morning. If April closed her eyes for too long, she would see the nightmare in the back of her eyelids again. She wished she could stargaze, but every light in the sky made her think of lights shining off of canisters and every small movement made her go on edge, so the curtains stayed closed. Even when the light of dawn was trying to creep its way in, they stayed closed.

She wasn't hungry, she wasn't tired, she wasn't lonely. April wasn't sure _what_ she -

The landline rang from the living room. April tensed up. Had she ever given them the landline number? Maybe for emergencies? She couldn't remember. Had Donnie found a way to get it? She wouldn't put it past him. He'd better not have.

The phone rang to its end. Then it started to ring again. April considered just letting it ring, on the off chance it _was_ the turtles so she wouldn't just unplug the machine. Who else would ring this early? Was it still early? Maybe it was later than she thought and the school was calling to find out where she was.

The second ring ended. Then it started to ring a third time. April pushed herself out of bed.

Her legs felt stiff as she walked out of her room to the phone's little end table. She stared at it. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of. Having to scream down the phone at Donnie or Leo or Raph or Mikey to go away? Having to explain why she wasn't in class by now? Having to shoo off some cold caller or telemarketer?

Her hand shook as she reached it out and took the phone from the receiver before it stopped ringing. "Hello?"

 _"Oh, April!"_ Worse. She had to talk to her aunt. _"What are you doing home? You're not sick, are you?"_

"U-um, yeah… yeah, I'm not so great today, Aunt Aggie."

_"Aw, honey, I'm sorry to hear that. You sound terrible! Why aren't you in bed?"_

_Breathe, April._ "I… I can't sleep."

_"Well you still shouldn't be up and about like this! It's your father who should be getting up to answer the phone."_

April's grip on the phone got a little tighter. _Keep your head on._

_"Ah, speaking of the devil, is he at home right now? I've been trying to reach him all morning but he's not answering his phone. Don't tell me he's sick too, is he?"_

There weren't any words coming out. She tried, she was sure she was trying, but she couldn't. All that came out was a small hic in her breath.

 _"_ _…_ _April?"_

It was hard to draw air in.

 _"Honey, are you crying?_ _…_ _What's wrong?"_

"…"

_"Please say something."_

"…Dad's gone." _Again._ And then she cried. Again. 

* * *

[Mikapalooza]  
[08:52]  
> apr?  
[08:57]  
> Apr pls answer  
> were rlly sorry april  
> please  
> it ws an accident 

[Donnie-boy]  
[09:09]  
> I have a theory on how mutagen works  
> I mean I don't know yet, I haven't gotten a sample yet  
> I need to talk this out and maybe you'd feel better if you heard how this might work? 

[Mikapalooza]  
[09:23]  
> did u turn off ur phone?  
> d keeps callin u so u gotta have a bad hedache  
> or u turned it off b4 he gave you one  
[09:55]  
> r u gonna b at training 2nite?

[Donnie-boy]  
[09:59]  
> please pick up the phone  
> Please April I'm worried 

[Mikapalooza]  
[10:31]  
> im sorry april

* * *

Agatha Marbles was not good at handling the situation any better than she had handled things the first time her sibling had gone missing. At the very least, she had come over to check on her niece right away, just before a lunch rush even. April would have been surprised answering the door to her aunt still in her uniform if she hadn't emotionally drained herself for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Aggie was making the effort to ask questions - "Are you OK?" "Do you want something to drink?" "Do you want the TV on?" - as she flitted about for things to do. She was trying to be useful, trying to help. But, there wasn't much she could do besides take care of the burnt stew left forgotten on the stove.

April only half watched her aunt move about. She was back to being numb, curled up on the couch with a blanket and some hot cocoa cradled in her hands. Another effort by Aggie to ease the tensions, more her own than April's.

The woman was murmuring something as she tried to straighten a straight picture she thought was crooked. Her red hair had started greying long before April's dad, and there would always be hairs straying from its bun no matter how much Aggie put an effort into looking neat and tidy. Her round glasses were on the verge of slipping off her nose when she nudged them back into place. Another always with her aunt. If April had seen this scene play out out of context, nothing would really look amiss save for Aggie being slightly more skittish.

The questions stopped for a while and there was silence. The clock ticked on the shelf, the picture still wasn't quite straight, April's cocoa was getting cold. Then her aunt made a long hum.

"We should call the police."

 _Do they have a net?_ April couldn't bring herself to care that she had just made such a dry joke to herself about things. "They didn't help last time."

"No, no, we should call them." Aggie turned round to look April in the eye for perhaps the second time she had arrived. "If he's been kidnapped again, we can't just leave it to luck that he gets away again."

It was April who broke eye contact first. "If he _was_ , there's no evidence. I'm not a witness this time, Aunt Aggie." _Liar._

"Please, April, we have to try." There was a shakiness creeping its way into her voice. It was the shakiness April had tried to keep under control on the phone to her earlier. "I don't want to lose Kirby too."

April looked up, looked long and hard at her aunt. Aggie was wringing her hands and looking towards the window. The way her jaw moved told April she was probably pinching at the inside of her cheeks with her teeth again. There's an old mean-spirited jib about _Marbles losing their marbles_ April suddenly recalled, as well as the mystery that surrounded her maternal side of the family.

_We're all the other has left, now._

She finally took a sip of her cocoa - lukewarm - and took a long, slow breath. "OK. We'll go to the police."

* * *

[Donnie-boy]  
[22:14]  
> We got some, April!  
> I can start work tonight!  
> It won't be immediate but in the meantime we could find your dad  
> maybe make him a nest somewhere and bring him food so he doesn't wander off  
> He'll probably want fresh fruit and the like, I doubt he was mutated with vampire bat DNA  
> otherwise we'd have reports of a monster on the loose hunting people down  
[22:27]  
> I'm sorry I got carried away  
> We'll get Kirby back, April, I promise 

[Mikapalooza]  
[00:13]  
> MUTANT SQUIREL  
> TS IN A DUDES BELLY  
> MUTANT SQURRELS  
> NOW ITS IN RAPH 

[Donnie-boy]  
[01:59]  
> OK, minor setback on the cure  
> but I'm still on top of it

[Mikapalooza]  
[02:07]  
> im a genius just so u kno  
[08:02]  
> ps b careful of squirrelanoidz  
> giant sqrrls  
> angry  
[09:15]  
> pps they liek food  
> throw food nd run  
> g2g makin breakfast

* * *

April felt guilty leaving Aggie on the couch to sleep. For the past three nights she had walked into her own room early to let her aunt get sleep for an early shift the next day. Aggie insisted she was fine as much as she insisted that she should stay with April even for just a couple of nights. She had been offered the other room but immediately refused. "No, it's Kirby's room. Have to leave it be for when he comes back."

Living with Aggie, even for just a few nights, had been unusual but not unpleasant. She had her little quirks, like talking to herself and tuneless humming, and she wasn't very good at conversation beyond how you were doing and what the day might entail. But _boy_ could she cook, and would without taking any polite "you really don't have to" from April. Dinner was always ready for six and April would wake up to find a phantom breakfast in the kitchen when Aggie had morning shifts. Pancakes or waffles or eggs and bacon somehow still warm and waiting for her. April didn't really feel all that hungry lately, but she appreciated the thoughtfulness nonetheless.

But April could tell her aunt wasn't comfortable. She preferred her own space and company. Even if they were the only family the other had right now and Aggie meant well, it seemed more she did it under obligation to family. So, after a few days of awkward small talk and meals that would be sorely missed, April said she would be fine on her own again. Aggie didn't put up much resistance this time.

* * *

[Donnie-boy]  
[14:22]  
> Well batch 11 didn't go so well  
> It exploded  
> Mikey and Timothy got a good laugh  
> at least I think Timothy laughed  
> I should probably see if I can make him a voicebox or something  
> Poor guy

[Raphinator]  
[17:34]  
> message back if ur not ded  
[18:03]  
> sorry 

[Mikapalooza]  
[19:49]  
> k I know ur still mad  
> but there's a show called Super Robot Mecha Force Five  
> its AWESOME  
> u should totally look it up  
> k ill leave u alone now

[Captain Leo]  
[01:58]  
> Just a heads up, Foot's back to old tricks again. Don't know where Shredder is or what he's up to, but Karai's looking to start trouble again. Stay safe. 

[Raphinator]  
[02:01]  
> princess is back  
> be careful.  
[02:07]  
> stay away from squirrels

* * *

It was the day April finally brought herself to go back to school, and Aggie's morning off. Aggie dropped her niece off at school as one last kind gesture. She pulled up to the curb and there was hesitation before she turned and said, "I'm just a phone call away. You know. If you need anything or you just want to talk, or…" She trailed off like she usually did when she was at a loss.

April gave her the brightest smile she'd managed in nearly a week. "I know, Aunt Aggie. Thanks again."

"Have a good day, April."

She got out of the car and waved her aunt goodbye as the car drove away.

She wouldn't hear much from Aunt Aggie save for a couple of check-up calls and relayed information about the manhunt for her not-kidnapped, not-human father. Just like before.

* * *

[Casey]  
[18:22]  
> yo red  
> which park r we meeting at?  
> like central?  
> gotta warn ya gangs like hangin there @ nite  
[You]  
[18:26]  
< no, the playground park  
< near the corner on Waltz and Duncan?  
[Casey]  
> oh that place  
> sweet  
[You]  
< why would I ask to meet up all the way over at Central Park for tutoring?  
[Casey]  
> uh  
> cuz its romantic?  
[You]  
< not a date, jones =P  
< see you at 7  
< don't be late  
[Casey]  
> wouldn't dream of it ;)

* * *

[Unknown]  
[19:02]  
> guess whooooooooo  
> (^ ^)/  
> shhh don't tell bradford  
> wanna surprise doggie >=3

* * *

[Raphinator]  
[19:38]  
> new ninja girl in town  
> nasty little gremlin  
> keep ur guard up 

[Donnie-boy]  
[19:42]  
> Hey, how's it going?  
> Everything's fine and cool and normal  
> Just wanted to see how you were?  
[19:55]  
> Made any new friends or anything lately?  
[20:03]  
> I mean I'm surprised you haven't you're amazing  
> I mean in a sense that you should be sooo popular  
> because you're so friendly, nice, smart, pretty, funny  
> I didn't mean to say pretty  
> I mean I did  
[22:26]  
> So how's trigonometry going? 

[You]  
[22:37]  
< I'm only going to ask you guys one more time  
< Leave. me. alone.  
< I don't want to talk to any of you  
< I don't want to see any of you  
< and I don't want to get involved in ANY more mutant problems because of you  
< I'm done


End file.
